Victoria Rowley: BA(Hons) Fashion Design Technology: Surface Textiles and, Christina Tiran: BA(Hons) Fashion Design Technology: Womenswear.
During our graduate season, here on the LCF blog we are showcasing some of the newly graduated designers. Today we present an interview with Victoria Rowley from BA (Hons) Fashion Design and Development: Surface Textiles whose designs appeared on the catwalk on the 1st of July.
LCF asked: How did you find your course?
Victoria Rowley: Really good! The facilities are just unbelievable – I’m definitely going to miss having access to them. Especially the print workshop, because everything you need is there.
The time we have with our tutors is really valuable as well. They always know what to say in order to make your work better. They push you a lot, which is good because you need that extra kick to get you motivated!
LCF: What would you say makes you stand out from the crowd?
VR: Most of my work is mainly focused on hand illustration, and I’d say that element makes me stand out. I do a mixture of illustration and abstract print for screen, but I think it’s the illustration that really jumps out at people.
LCF: What inspires your designs?
VR: Mostly I focus on merging grotesque elements, and making them beautiful by using traditional botanicals. I like the idea of finding things that are in bad taste, for example a lot of American pop culture is regarded as distasteful. I was inspired by the writings of Umberto Eco. I like his humorous way of looking at American pop culture, and the way that Americans use kitsch in order to try and imitate traditional European artwork. I tend to add that into my designs, almost in an ironic sense.
LCF: Have you done any work experience in your time at LCF?
VR: I went to Peter Pilotto for a couple of months, which was good fun. I mostly did pattern cutting there, which is really useful because I didn’t know much about that at all before I started that internship. Also, even before I started first year, I worked with a designer called Hermione de Paula. That was extremely helpful in terms of the style of my work, as she’s a huge influence for me. Her way of working really inspires me, as everything she does is hand rendered, then transferred into digital. I’ve adopted that style of working throughout my course.
LCF: What advice would you give to future students?
VR: Experiment early! Because I wasn’t as confident as I am now in first and second year, I didn’t really experiment as much as I could of. It can be very daunting, especially in second year when you’re learning all of these new techniques. It’s so important to be confident, though, in how you want to use these techniques in your own work.
LCF: What are your plans for the future?
VR: I think just to continue with my style of working. I would be working in more of a freelance set-up, which is a lot more challenging. Ideally, working with a company that has a similar process to me would be amazing, but I need to be realistic. I might even do commissions outside of fashion – artwork for the music industry would be really interesting.
If I could, I would love to collaborate with Jean Paul Gaultier, because I think he’s the kind of person who would be quite witty and humourous. I love the way he puts humour into his work, and his ability to poke fun out of himself. If he was to do print, I imagine we would work well together, in terms of our mentality, and our way of executing things.
Image Credits:
- Womenswear by Christina Tiran
- Prints by Victoria Rowley
- Photography by James Rees
- Creative Direction by Rob Phillips
- Beauty by Pace Chen
- Model, Laura O’Grady at Select Model Management (Verve)
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